Do You Think That Animals Truly Understand Human Language?

by minimus 35 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mikado

  many years ago I had the best dog in the world, she was a cross bred medium sized dog. we identified about One hundred different commands she totally understood,she was the easiest dog to train, you only had to show her something once. One day when she was being very naughty and hassling my hens, I had to tell her off twice and give her ONE smack. She NEVER let anyone else including me hassle those hens for 13 years after.

  She also was a rescue dog, some years after getting her I managed to find her original owner, who said she was the naughtiest dog in the world, totally uncontrollable.

  Now what does that say?

  i also had a rescue cat, put down a few months ago, who totally loved people!!taking him to the vets was a delight, he loved the vets.

  He certainly behaved as if he understood people.

  i now have some very nice dogs and cats.

  what do these cats understand? I suspect very little.

  the dogs? they act as if they understand lots, but I suspect it's an evolutionary quirk...

  LOVED the raccoon story, very moving.
• 

  Magnum

  Mikado, the raccoon story still moves me. There were three of them. They would sleep in the bed with us. I have pictures and video of the male in the bed with his head on a pillow snuggled up with me or wife. One night when we were keeping them outside, he broke out of his enclosure, then broke into the house, and then climbed in bed with us and slept all night between us.

  I stll to this day (been about seven years) cry over the loss of the boy. He had an undiagnosed sickness. We took him to three different out-of-state vets and consulted online with another. He finally died at one of the vets' offices out of town. It almost killed me. That trip home with his dead body was something I never want to experience again. The vet wrapped him in paper and put a plastic flower on the package and brought him out to the car. I put him on the back seat and we drove home (about three hours). I cried for days.
• 

  LisaRose

  Mikado, your dog must have been some kind of sheep dog, they are really smart, once you trained him that chickens were to be protected, he took care of them, that is what they are bred to do. I saw where someone trained his dog to fetch stuffed animals, the dog could recognize several hundred different names and bring the correct one when asked.
• 

  Balaamsass2

  We have had lots of dogs and cats over the years. Depends.

  Our last German Shepherd seemed as smart as a small child and understood a LOT of words in regular conversations. I found it unsettling at times. Once when we had an intruder in the back yard he pulled me out of bed by my wrist to wake me.
• 

  Mikado

  I totally understand where the grief comes from, I still grieve every day for my wonderful old dog,

  if I went out for a walk with her and my partner, and they went off a different direction, or I had to go, NO WAY would she go anywhere without me.

  she would just sit and wait.

  I am still not sure if it was for the best or not that i had to be the one to decide her fate. she was my dog, and i loved her so much.

  I must admit writing that has mived me to tears.

  it's a funny thing about humans. what other species cries for years after loss?
• 

  Apognophos

  My cat also leads me when she wants food. She probably was trying to send me mind rays for years when her food bowl was empty, before realizing that humans are just too stupid to read her mind. Now she lies in wait for me, and when I walk by her, she runs ahead of me and sits within sight of me, near her food bowl, looking at me. "Now do you get it, human?"

  I've also taught her a specific trick that has to do with understanding a sequence of events which I won't describe here, since some local JWs know about it (I'm still fading, for those who don't know).

  what other species cries for years after loss?

  Well, elephants remember their dead for years, coming back to the bones and standing over them quietly. There's also an account of a woman who was caught sleeping by an elephant, and when she woke up and saw him, she played dead, in sheer terror. The elephant "buried" her in palm leaves.

  Here's more about elephant grieving: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270977/Elephants-really-grieve-like-They-shed-tears-try-bury-dead--leading-wildlife-film-maker-reveals-animals-like-us.html

  There's some evidence that elephants also cry (mentioned in that article, and also in this account of an elephant who was freed from an abusive mahoot), though I'm remaining skeptical until I see more proof. Nevertheless, crying is of course just one way to express emotion, and even our primate cousins do not cry, so it's only one specific way of showing sadness.